Kidnappers set Anambra native doctor free after alleged N300m ransom
There are ‘speculations’ kidnappers of a native doctor, Chidozie Nwangwu, from Idemili, in Anambra state, collected a ransom ranging from ‘N200m to N300m’ before setting him free on Saturday.
Chidozie’s captors seized him from his hotel last Sunday.
Tochukwu Ikenga, who speaks for the police command in the state, confirmed Chidozie’s release but said the police was yet to reach him at the time he spoke to the media.
He said, “I have the information that his abductors have contacted friends and relatives and demanded some millions.
“According to speculation, they said it’s between N200 million and N300million. We are making efforts to get in touch with him and also get accurate information surrounding his abduction.
“Yes, he has been released this morning. We are waiting to debrief him, with a view to getting his experience and clue of who the abductors are, so that we can go after them.”
TheCornet reports that kidnapping for ransom has morphed into a thriving industry in Nigeria.
At the height of their militancy in the late 90s to 2000s, armed insurgents in the creek of Nigeria’s Niger Delta region took to kidnapping expatriates as one of their funding strategies and basis for negotiations with the state.
The situation took unprecedented dimensions, beginning with the mass abduction of 276 schoolgirls of the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, in 2014, and similar incidents thereafter.
